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October 30, 2013

This post is just a little bit of this and a little bit of that--ALL HALLOWEEN! I will be sharing a few simple projects I have been working on!

Mur-man and I needed an art project...we made smartie-pants. I drew the pants and Mur-man cut them out. Not perfect, but cute. Plus, he is OBSESSED with cutting things out. It's good practice.

Next, are pumpkin treat bags. All you need is orange fleece or felt, black fleece or felt, fabric glue, ribbon, and a sewing machine. VERY EASY...THE PHOTOS TELL THE STORY!

Next up, Mur-Man is supposed to wear orange and black for school tomorrow. No Halloween costumes allowed. Literally, Mur-man had nothing in his closet that was orange, so I decided to decorate a tie (already had) with a plastic spider! Hopefully it will make it through a full day of pre-school.

October 29, 2013

Steve and I spent last week in New Orleans! It was AMAZING! I promise to share photos this week. I am beat...that city is CRAZY! Let's just say, my only regret is that I didn't go there when I was 21 (versus over 30)!

We got back to ND late Sunday/early Monday! I am still catching up on sleep. When we got back, I had to work hard to get Mur-Man's Halloween costume ready. We went to a Halloween party tonight, so I had added pressure.

Literally, this costume cost me $0.00 (NOTHING)! Most of it required items that people would already have, and I also crashed my craft stash. Not bad.

I asked Mur-Man what he wanted to be for Halloween and he said a cookie. Cute, but we needed to go a little more creative, so I decided to go with a smart cookie.

Here's the steps I took to make the costume:

I took kid sunglasses and popped out the lenses.

Using black electrical tape...I wrapped the glasses.

NERDY, but smart! ADORABLE!

I let Mur-Man come up with the chocolate chip design.

There's my chip pattern. I used this shape to cut black fabric chips. I also used it to cut out wonder-under (or fusible interfacing.

I then ironed the fabric to the fusible interfacing, cut it out, and then ironed it to the brown cookie fabric.

I created the cookie shape and also added a bite. I then sewed the two fabrics together leaving space for stuffing. I stuffed it and then closed the hole with the sewing machine.

I also sewed black ribbon to attach the two cookies.

Finally, I used Steve's graduation hat to complete the outfit! He looks pretty smart--doesn't he?

1 bag egg noodles (I always use the whole bag, and there was
enough broth)

a few pads (tablespoons) of butter

1 medium onion, chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

Sautee the celery, onion and carrots in the butter in the
bottom of your biggest pot/stock pot on medium heat until the onions start to
turn opaque and the carrots and celery start to get tender.Add a little more butter if things
start to get dry, but it shouldn’t.

Now add all your broth, seasoning and chicken.Bring it up to a boil – kick it up to
medium-high heat.While it boils,
season the soup.I used: a little
poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, Morton’s Nature’s Seasons
(a type of season all) and pepper.Just do this until you like the taste.

Once the carrots are tender (they’re usually the last
thing), add the noodles and cook until they are done as you like.

I served it with warm baguette bread.

You can add other ingredients – I would have loved fresh
green peas, but I didn’t have any (even frozen).For sick people, a little fresh ginger is good for healing purposes, and
I had some too – but I think Shaun wouldn’t have cared for that tweak in the
flavor.If it was just for me, I’d
have added it.My mom would’ve
added mushrooms.I tried to buy
baby tortellini pastas at the store, but Target was sold out for some
reason.That would’ve been really
yummy tho.

October 27, 2013

Recently, I was at Wal-Mart, and I could not believe that they were already selling Christmas decorations! What about Halloween and Thanksgiving?!?

I came across a ton of Christmas Ornament clips--to attach to the tree. However, most of them did not say just "Christmas" and they could be used for room decoration, on gift packaging, and maybe even hair flair!

They ranged in prices from $1.48 to 97 cents. NOT TOO BAD! I apologize for the poor photo quality--they were taken on my phone.

And even better, pick these up after Christmas for 50% off!

Wouldn't these butterflies look adorable in a girl's room!

I did not actually purchase any FLAIR, but I may just have to do that. WOMS: Let us know if you pick-up some decor and how you use it!

October 24, 2013

1.Just when I
had become accustomed to the idea of Charlie Hunnam as Christian Grey, that
mysteriously falls apart.If it’s
because of the fan backlash, I do have one thing to say – Christian would whip your
a$$ for not having the balls to follow through with your decisions.If it’s because of the reasons they
really said (busy schedule, blah blah), oh well, hurry up and find someone new.Maybe I’ll be right on Cam Gigandet
after all.I dreamt the other
night that it was some really obscure actor and even I was in an outrage over
it.Imagine.

2.KD has been
diagnosed as having ADHD.That
explains why you haven’t heard as much from me around here since school started
as normal.We’ve been dealing with
her teacher, doctors, assessments, etc.I’m not really that upset about it as I am glad for having a plan of
action.I know she’s still
beautiful, smart, healthy and feisty.Doing the things to help her calm down and focus will only help the cool
KD come out even more.

3.Land’s End
is KILLING it still with their sales this fall.I found a pair of MADE IN THE USA jeans for Shaun for
$25.If you’re reading this blog
from another country, I’ll explain why that’s worth a mention: we Americans rarely see MADE IN THE USA on our
clothing labels anymore.I also
found a $190 down parka for $42.This is all true.Still, I
wish I was buying a bathing suit.

4.Shaun’s
brother is getting married just after the first of the year.I’m super excited. I found really cute
dresses for the girls at a legit party dress site (with matching Land’s End
ballet flats of course).The
reason I’m glad it ended up being legit is that my mother-in-law ended up
ordering two dresses from what ended up being some sort of scam site out of
China and when the dresses didn’t fit, there was some serious drama about that
return/refund process.BEWARE and
READ THE REVIEWS when ordering online – use ebay and Amazon.

4.5.And
speaking of the wedding – on the RSVP card Shaun required me to say that the 4
of us would regretfully decline from attending the wedding “because we
anticipate being too hungover from the groom’s dinner. Oops.”I’m 95% certain no offense will be
taken by this response.

5.The girls
were really cute cheerleaders.Naturally our good camera’s battery died almost instantly.When I finally download and see what
pics Shaun actually got off of it, I’ll put up some of those.The couple off my phone were a little
grainy.Some mini tramp in an owl
hat stole Easy Mac’s pom poms – grrrr.Easy Mac grabbed one of the varsity cheerleaders and brought her to the
rail to talk to me and asked if I could cheer with them.“No, honey, I’m retired, it’s their job
now.”So cute.

October 22, 2013

Posted by Lori~Our 1939 house has an amazing wood burning fireplace (my favorite). For some reason, I have never decided to decorate the mantle for the holiday season (of course I have thrown up the stockings, but that is just not the same). There is always a first, and Halloween seemed to be perfect.First up, I decided to create BOO frames. I crashed my stash for photo mattes, painter's tape, and burlap.

I cut the burlap to fit.

I attached it using painter's tape. This way I can re-use the burlap or the matte.

October 17, 2013

Mur-man is at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend--Steve and I are headed out of town for a wedding. I thought I would surprise Mur-man when he gets back with a HALLOWEEN GHOST DOOR! SUPER EASY!

And, I had everything already. TOTALLY FREE!

I used leftover foam to make the eyes. I used a bowl to trace the circles.

We are WOMS!

Holy crap, you made it! We were starting to wonder. We're Lori & Ethne. We love to laugh (free exercise) and sometimes pretend we're crime reporters. You may also catch us doing a craft, cooking or trying to save money. (Not doing laundry, though. Ick.) Click on ABOUT US to learn more.